Unreal estate

Intimate cocktail soirees to attract the attention of buyers and private concerts for successful purchasers - whatever happened to the gritty world of real estate?

Thanks to the overwhelming popularity of Channel Nine's The Block, a clever blend of real estate and lifestyle drama, property is now sexy, and real estate events are beginning to make the social pages.

As real estate agents scramble to secure their purchasers, $100,000 will go to the couple with the highest-selling unit when The Block apartments are auctioned on the weekend of August 17. And various glamorous social events have been planned around the bigsales.

"So it's not unreasonable that something that makes the news would make the social pages."

The successful buyer of the unit will be privately serenaded by a crooning Amity, who has tried to launch a singing career through theshow.

"Hopefully she will be No.1 on the music charts by then as well," Cronin gushed.

Similarly, Ray White Double Bay has sent out invitations for a "champagne sneak preview" of Fiona and Adam's downstairs unit.

But not all of the four agents in charge of selling the different units have chosen to incorporate cocktail parties and glitz into their campaigns.

McGrath Estate Agents are selling Warren and Gavin's sleek modern apartment, but adecision has been made not to turn the marketing campaign into a social event.

"We are not going to add to the media frenzy," chief executive John McGrath said.

"We're not here to have a cocktail party; we're here to sell a house.

"From here on in we are treating it like the sale of a quality apartment. We need to remember that it's a great apartment irrespective of the TV show."

Agents in charge of selling Kylie and plumber Paul's well-received upstairs apartment, Raine & Horne Double Bay, are also keen to remove themselves from the hype and won't be holding any social events.

But the invitations to gallery openings, product launches and film premieres are starting to roll in for the four couples.

Flamboyant pair Warren and Gavin are taking their new-found celebrity status in their stride.

"We were in a restaurant and a woman who had spotted us started to shake and drop her food," Gavin said. "We went over to her and told her we weren't Barbra Streisand orthe Queen. It was a bizarre experience.

"We will go to a few [events] that we are invited to, but we don't want to eat, sleep and breathe all of that. We are not antisocial, but there has to be a balance. And when everything is finished we plan to go camping on the beach at Byron Bay."